(a) Prior to September 1, 1997, and onOn or before September
1, of each succeeding year, each law-enforcement agency which has
unclaimed stolen property in its possession shall file an unclaimed
stolen property report with the treasurer which identifies all
unclaimed stolen property in its possession at the time the report
is filed.

(b) An unclaimed stolen property report shall include the
following information with respect to all unclaimed stolen property
in the possession of the law-enforcement agency filing it:

(1) A description of each item, including a serial number, if
applicable;

(2) An estimated value for each item;

(3) Whether any nonprofit organization has requested that any
item be donated to it and whether any nonprofit organization might
be considered to receive the item as a donation;

(4) Whether the law-enforcement agency could use the item for
any legitimate and authorized law enforcement or educational
purpose;

(5) The chief executive’s recommendation for the disposition
of each item; and

(6) If any unclaimed stolen property in the law-enforcement
agency’s possession consists of firearms or ammunition, the chief
executive’s determination of whether the firearms or ammunition are
of a sufficient quality to be traded in on new weapons or
ammunition for the law-enforcement agency or appropriated for the
law-enforcement agency’s use.a description of the best efforts
used by the chief executive to determine if the firearm has been
lost by, stolen or otherwise unlawfully obtained from an innocent
owner or its disposition by public auction or otherwise required by
section five of this article.

§36-8A-3. Treasurer’s response to unclaimed stolen property report.

Within thirty days of the receipt of an unclaimed stolen
property report, the treasurer shall send a response to the law-enforcement agency submitting it. For each item identified in the
unclaimed stolen property report except firearms and ammunition
which the chief executive determined to be of sufficient quality to
trade in on new weapons or ammunition or to appropriate for the
law-enforcement agency’s use, the treasurer shall either require
that it be delivered to the treasurer, authorize the law-enforcement agency to sell it at a public sale, authorize the
law-enforcement agency to donate it to a nonprofit organization,
authorize the law-enforcement agency to use it for any legitimate
and authorized law enforcement or educational purpose, or authorize
the law-enforcement agency either to sell it at a public sale, to
donate it to a nonprofit organization, or to use it for any
legitimate and authorized law enforcement or educational purpose.
However, the treasurer may not authorize the law-enforcement agency
to sell or donate any firearms or ammunition. If the treasurer
determines that any item identified in an unclaimed stolen property
report is of such value that it should be processed by the
treasurer’s office, the treasurer shall have the authority to
require that the item be delivered to the treasurer.

§36-8A-5. Regarding the disposition of firearms in state custody.

(a) Subject to the duty to return firearms to innocent owners
pursuant to subsection (b) of this section, all firearms, as
defined in section two, article seven, chapter sixty-one of this
code, that are forfeited or abandoned to any law-enforcement agency
of this state or a political subdivision of this state, including
the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, or that are
otherwise acquired by the state or a political subdivision of the
state and are no longer needed, shall be transferred to the State
Treasurer for disposal as provided in this section.

(b) Within thirty days of the receipt of an unclaimed stolen
property report, the State Treasurer shall coordinate best efforts
with the reporting law-enforcement agency to transfer the firearms
and ammunition to the State Treasurer for disposal as provided in
subsection (d).

(c) Prior to the disposal of any firearm that has been
forfeited or abandoned to the state, the chief executive of each
law-enforcement agency shall use best efforts to determine if the
firearm has been lost by, stolen or otherwise unlawfully obtained
from an innocent owner, and if so, shall return the firearm to its
innocent owner, if ascertainable, unless that person is ineligible
to receive or possess a firearm under state or federal law.

(d) Except as provided in subsections (c) and (e), the State
Treasurer shall dispose of the firearms that it receives under
subsection (a) by sale at public auction to persons licensed as
firearms collectors, dealers, importers or manufacturers under the
provisions of 18 U. S. C. §§921 et seq. and authorized to receive
firearms under the terms of their license.

(1) The auctions required by this subsection may occur online
on a rolling basis or at live events but in no event may occur less
frequently than once every six months.

(2) The State Treasurer shall retain only the net proceeds
necessary to cover the costs of administering this section, with
any surplus to be transferred to the general fund of the state:
Provided, That an agency may be reimbursed for any decommissioned
firearms formerly in use by the agency that are sold under this
section.

(3) Employees of the State Police or of the agency from which
the firearms are received are not eligible to bid on the firearms
at an auction conducted under this section.

(e) The requirements of subsection (d) do not apply to a
firearm that the chief executive of the law-enforcement agency or
his or her designee certifies is unsafe for use because of wear,
damage, age or modification, and any such firearm shall at the
discretion of the superintendent be transferred to the State Police
forensic laboratory for training or experimental purposes or to a
museum or historical society or be destroyed.

(f) The State Treasurer shall keep records of all firearms
acquired and disposed of under the provisions of this section, as
well as the net proceeds of the sales and the disbursement of such
proceeds, and shall maintain these records for not less than ten
years from the date on which a firearm is disposed of or on which
a disbursement of funds is made, as the case may be.

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(NOTE: §36-8A-5 has been completely rewritten; therefore,
strike-throughs and underscores have been omitted.)